Census Data (microdata, nominative or anonymised) from Scotland & rest of the UK, all years

Last updated on 27/04/2018 - 10:27

This page provides a brief guide to finding the sources of Census microdata, i.e. individual records, for the constituent parts of the UK. Nominative census microdata, i.e. which include identifying information relating to individuals (such as names), are not available for censuses which took place less than 100 years ago, for reasons of confidentiality.

There is no single UK Population Census. The Census is carried out by different bodies in different parts of the UK, and there are therefore different sources for finding these data; the Scottish Census is conducted by the National Records of Scotland, the Census for England and Walesby the Office of National Statistics, and the Northern Ireland Census by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

Nominative census microdata for Scotland's censuses of 1851 - 1901 (and for the rest of the UK for 1851 - 1911) are available as the datasets of the Integrated Census Microdata from the UK Data Archive (see access conditions below). Whereas anonymised microdata may be downloaded from the Integrated Census Microdata (I-CeM) website.

The Scotland's People website provides paid-for access to census records from 1841 to 1911.